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ive been looking everywhere for a good place to learn how to make a RINZLER helmet to go with my suit im working on, but i cant seem to find one. ive got the figure as a referance and ive seen many pictures of it and of course, ive seen the movie. i was planning on making it out of cardboard at first and then covering it with fiberglass and then bondo but forming the helmet isnt much of a problem due to other helmets (including the bioshock 2 delta helmet) that i have made. mostly i am concerned about how i will be able to put in the part i see in and mostly make it where people cant tell where im seeing out of. can anyone help?

For my Clu helmet I was planning on vacuum forming the main helmet out of a dark black plastic, then cutting out an opening for me to see out of, then fitting an easier to see through and nearly identical visor to the helmet plastic. Might have to fiddle with it to make it harder to see into, but I'd imagine a black mesh inside the mask would conceal skin tone/eyes enough. Good luck

For my Clu helmet I was planning on vacuum forming the main helmet out of a dark black plastic, then cutting out an opening for me to see out of, then fitting an easier to see through and nearly identical visor to the helmet plastic. Might have to fiddle with it to make it harder to see into, but I'd imagine a black mesh inside the mask would conceal skin tone/eyes enough. Good luck

so im new at this actualy and rinzler is one of the hardest suits ive ever made, what exactly is vacuum forming?

there is actualy a pepakura rinzler helmet yet the only problem is its $15 dollars to buy the file. and in my opinion it would be alot easier and alot cheeper to do the vacuum forming that i just learned about that im gonna try to do.

so heres my idea. i think im going to completely carve the entire helmet out of lay, then vacuum form it, then paint it with tinted black see-through paint so i can see out, then completeley cover the inside with black netting, because i have tons of that stuff. sounds like it will work for me...

so heres my idea. i think im going to completely carve the entire helmet out of lay, then vacuum form it, then paint it with tinted black see-through paint so i can see out, then completeley cover the inside with black netting, because i have tons of that stuff. sounds like it will work for me...

That's more or less what I'm going to do for Quorra's helmet. I'm going to vacuum form the two sides of the helmet and then use a dark-tinted transparent plastic for the "visor" panel that runs down the front of it, then get some padding for the interior (probably the same sort of thing used in athletic helmets). For bonus points I'm going to try wiring up a voice distorter along with the LED lights, and incorporate a little computer fan to keep it all from fogging up.

That's more or less what I'm going to do for Quorra's helmet. I'm going to vacuum form the two sides of the helmet and then use a dark-tinted transparent plastic for the "visor" panel that runs down the front of it, then get some padding for the interior (probably the same sort of thing used in athletic helmets). For bonus points I'm going to try wiring up a voice distorter along with the LED lights, and incorporate a little computer fan to keep it all from fogging up.

awesome! i mioght add in a recorder with the purring noise rinzler makes on it and make it repeat itself.and i like the idea about the leds i might just do that with mine hey btw are you making the full quorra suit? and if so what are you using as the armored spots?

awesome! i mioght add in a recorder with the purring noise rinzler makes on it and make it repeat itself.and i like the idea about the leds i might just do that with mine hey btw are you making the full quorra suit? and if so what are you using as the armored spots?

Yep, the plan is to do a full Quorra costume by Halloween '11 (I'm giving myself plenty of time since I have a few skills I still need to learn).

Quorra's body armor isn't quite as extensive as, say, Sam's or Rinzler's... I'm considering a modified/simplified version of the method that the film's costumers used (as best as I can piece it together from articles online).

Rather than a 3D scan and CNC print of my body, I'll be enlisting a couple friends to help me do some sort of life cast of myself and create a plaster copy of my torso from that. Then I'll use some oil clay and sculpt the armor directly on top of the torso (likely with a plain version of the lycra undersuit I'll use underneath) and make molds from that. I'd like to try using foam rubber for the final cast, but it looks to be a bit complicated, so I'm still not sure yet on what material to use.

I'm not planning to do any of this until later this year, though, once I've done some tests of the processes involved.

As for her helmet, that's what I'll be tackling first... just some oil clay atop of a wig form. The lights in her helmet stretch all the way along the side of it from what I can tell, so I may use some optical fiber to spread the light of a few LEDs around, rather than try to get EL wire into a helmet. I'd rather not have the obnoxious sound of an inverter whining in my ear all the time, anyhow, lol. I'm going to do a silicone mold of the sculpted helmet, with plaster or fiberglass support. Then I'll either: 1. cast some small sections of it with plaster and use those as forms for the vacuum mold, or 2. line it with resin. The visor will be done with the vacuum mold for sure, though, so that I can use some tinted transparent plastic.

Long term wish-list items for the helmet would be a tiny camera and a pair of something like these, because it would be pretty darn cool to do. :-P

Yep, the plan is to do a full Quorra costume by Halloween '11 (I'm giving myself plenty of time since I have a few skills I still need to learn).

Quorra's body armor isn't quite as extensive as, say, Sam's or Rinzler's... I'm considering a modified/simplified version of the method that the film's costumers used (as best as I can piece it together from articles online).

Rather than a 3D scan and CNC print of my body, I'll be enlisting a couple friends to help me do some sort of life cast of myself and create a plaster copy of my torso from that. Then I'll use some oil clay and sculpt the armor directly on top of the torso (likely with a plain version of the lycra undersuit I'll use underneath) and make molds from that. I'd like to try using foam rubber for the final cast, but it looks to be a bit complicated, so I'm still not sure yet on what material to use.

I'm not planning to do any of this until later this year, though, once I've done some tests of the processes involved.

As for her helmet, that's what I'll be tackling first... just some oil clay atop of a wig form. The lights in her helmet stretch all the way along the side of it from what I can tell, so I may use some optical fiber to spread the light of a few LEDs around, rather than try to get EL wire into a helmet. I'd rather not have the obnoxious sound of an inverter whining in my ear all the time, anyhow, lol. I'm going to do a silicone mold of the sculpted helmet, with plaster or fiberglass support. Then I'll either: 1. cast some small sections of it with plaster and use those as forms for the vacuum mold, or 2. line it with resin. The visor will be done with the vacuum mold for sure, though, so that I can use some tinted transparent plastic.

Long term wish-list items for the helmet would be a tiny camera and a pair of something like these, because it would be pretty darn cool to do. :-P

definatley sounds like that would work! but may i suggest instead of the rubber you were talking about, try craft foam. heres the armor ive made for my rinzler suit and its made out of craft foam

I thought I would share my helmet solution.
It's not quite as extravagant as others in this thread, but since I don't have the time or patients to make one from scratch, I thought I would take an old helmet I had laying around and modify it enough to make it look "TRON Like".
It has a few vent holes in it that I will add EL lighting.
I still have a bit to do on the design, but you get the idea
Here is a couple pictures of it so far:

The little straw slivers are marked to indicate the amount of offset I've allowed from my head (the first layer of clay there is to get the mannequin head to match my head size). There's about 1.5" minimum offset.

I thought I would share my helmet solution.
It's not quite as extravagant as others in this thread, but since I don't have the time or patients to make one from scratch, I thought I would take an old helmet I had laying around and modify it enough to make it look "TRON Like".
It has a few vent holes in it that I will add EL lighting.
I still have a bit to do on the design, but you get the idea
Here is a couple pictures of it so far:

propmaster2000

.

I dunno that's a bloody good Helmet, what helmet did you use as base & how did you mold it?

I bought this Salomon Ranger RE Helmet a while back because I liked the style.
The elongated vent holes gave it a little more charactor, as apposed to the Giro brand.
It was alittle to wide for my head (about an inch), so I thought I would modify it into a TRONesk style helmet.

So, I took out the inner padding, layed in some plastic protective covering and filled it in with expanding foam, let it cure. Then I put it on a stand to hold it level, cut the helmet in half on a band saw. I then removed about .80 inch from the center, sanded away about a quarter inch of the foam inner shell (so that it would be a more closer fitting helmet) and reattached the halves.
This gave the helmet a bit of a pointy front, giving it a different look.
Since the helmet now has a much closer fit, I will need a thinner head covering since I can no longer use the original thicker padding, so I got a leather doo-rag.
I added the side ear covers with styrene and will be putting fabric (or vinyl) covered foam in that location.

I had a spare motorcycle face shield which I had to slightly bend (with a heat gun) to conform to the new front angle.

I cut out the opening in the shield just below my nose to give it that TRON "feel". The shield still has the ability to open as well.

I will most likely put EL lighting in the vent holes with it's own self contained inverter and power supply, that way it can sit on the shelf all lit up

It most certainly will do for the games! I am learning the art of foam filling as I attempt my own helmet, 1st attempt complete disaster but learning curve is steep, I am not replicating just looking for similar to Sam's Disc Wars helmet, since I am doing my "own" program with Red piping (piping is what they are calling the lit up areas of the costumes in Tron Evolution: Battlegrids :P) I don't have to be exact, I reckon some red lED's placed well will do the job for me.

I had considered taking on Sam's helmet if not some of the others. I've had some experience with vacuum forming clear visors and dyeing black visors now for a little while. I loved the movie and would like to find a project to work on from it. I've seen plenty of resource images.. does anyone have a gallery online of screenshots?

wow, great job mate. i love it. figured i would start on my actual costume before i actualy started on the helmet. what kind of motorcycle helmet is that btw, i might actualy make one of those for my friend next year for halloween, since we are all planning on being tron characters

The little straw slivers are marked to indicate the amount of offset I've allowed from my head (the first layer of clay there is to get the mannequin head to match my head size). There's about 1.5" minimum offset.

i like the way this looks so far! i think im gonna see how your helmet comes out then im gonna start on mine so i can see what materials i exactly wanna use. ive got until september to make it and the costume anyway, hahaha